TravelStream™ news feed for member mvpandora on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/mvpandora en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Mon, 31 Aug 2009 18:36:28 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mvpandora/2/1251758153/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mvpandora/2/1251758153/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mvpandora/2/1251758153/tpod.html Mon, 31 Aug 2009 18:36:28 -0400 North to Alaska

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Friday Harbor, Washington, United States

Saturday, Aug 22

The water in Secret Cove was calm when we got up at 6:00 AM so we pulled up the anchor and headed out to cross the Strait of Georgia. The forecast was for 5-15 mph winds and that is exactly what we got, light winds and rolling seas. Not too bad as long as we didn't get sideways to the swells. There were lots of boats out in the Strait, sailboats, ferries, tugs and power boats in every direction. We made good time and made the crossing faster than anticipated so we decided to take an extra ½ hour and go south to Gabriola Passage instead of Dodd Narrows (something different). We were about 2 hours before slack tide, but the water through the passage was pretty calm, just a couple of swirly spots. It is really beautiful in the area and we enjoyed the trip. We anchored in Sibell Bay across from the town of Ladysmith. It is a small anchorage and there were already two boats here but we eased farther into the bay and got a good spot. We had anchored here on our way north and knew it would have good protection if the wind came up.. Two more boats came in later in the day, a 62 and 76 foot Nordhaven. We spent the afternoon cleaning the bathrooms (yes, you still have to clean when you are on the boat), sitting on the top deck in the sunshine, and recording the route we had taken this summer on our planning map. Even we were amazed how far we had traveled.

Monday, August 31

Since our last entry we have been to Maple Bay and Princess Bay with our friends, Rich and Kathy, on Yonder. They went back to Maple Bay and we went south to Montegue Harbor. We checked into the US at Roche Harbor and anchored in the bay for a couple of days. It was really fun watching all the boats and seaplanes coming and going. Our next stop was Reid Harbor on Stuart Island, then Parks Bay and today we are at Friday Harbor, WA. We will spend the night here then go south to Puget Sound for a while.

We have had an amazing and unforgettable summer. This will be our last entry. Hope you all have enjoyed reading about our adventures.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mvpandora/2/1250908510/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mvpandora/2/1250908510/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mvpandora/2/1250908510/tpod.html Fri, 21 Aug 2009 22:45:52 -0400 North to Alaska

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Secret Cove, British Columbia, Canada

Thursday, Aug 13

It was foggy when we left Blunden Harbor and nobody anchored there was in a hurry to leave. Four of us left about 8:30, all headed generally south. We were going to the Broughton Islands and hoping to find good water, although we were warned that most of the water in the Broughton's was "brown". We tied to the dock at Sullivan Bay around noon. It is a cute village, all floating homes and buildings. They have fuel, a store, a restaurant, and a laundry/shower/library room. We treated ourselves to dinner and a bottle of wine at the restaurant. It was nice and the food was good. The water was “pale brownish” but the harbormaster said it was ok to drink and people hardly ever got Beaver Fever. We have two filters we run the water through before we use it so we filled up and hoped he was right. We still have a couple of gallons of bottled water for drinking.

Friday, Aug 14

We anchored in Simooms Sound. Tim fished and caught a bunch of snapper which he is saving for a fish stew later in the week. We dropped the crab trap in but the crab we caught were too small. We only saw one other boat come in and they anchored on the other side where we couldn’t even see them. We had a quiet, comfortable night.

Saturday, Aug 15

We have been disappointed with the weather in the Broughton’s. It’s been cold and cloudy and windy. We were hoping for some sunshine so decided to explore the islands another time and head south. In Tribune Channel we were surrounded by Pacific white-sided dolphins. Several different groups of 3 or 4 took turns playing in our bow and stern wakes. They play about a foot or so off our bow and make it all seem so effortless. When they’re through they rocket off to catch more food. It was so fun to watch and we got lots of video and still shots. We anchored in the wind in Port Harvey behind Range Island. From there we could see a new marina that we didn’t even know was there. It’s not in any of the cruising books. About 3:30 PM a strong wind came up and we started to loose our anchor setting. The wind continued to increase so we decided to go to the dock. It was a good move. They had just opened the marina in May and the owners were really nice and eager to please. They had a small restaurant with a limited menu, but it was good, and we bought yummy fresh cinnamon rolls for breakfast.

Sunday, Aug 16

Today we did a series of four narrows and rapids. The first two were fairly easy, the next two were a little more challenging. Tim enjoyed the swirling waters and Jill hung on. Not her cup of tea. We anchored in Von Dunop Inlet with several other boats, but had lots of room. It is sunny and breezy, nice summer weather.

Monday, Aug 17

We decided to stay another night and put the kayaks in and went to the trail head that went through the forest and over to Squirrel Cove on the other side of Cortez Island. The guide book said “about ½ hour”…NOT. It was about 1 ½ hours, but there was ice cream at the store so we were happy on the way back. It was a battle against the wind getting the kayaks back to the boat and was actually kind of fun. We got more exercise today than we have all summer.

Tuesday, Aug 18

Today we are towing the dinghy so we can use it easily when we get to Gorge Harbor. The weather is sunny and breezy…perfect. We anchored in the bay and took the dinghy ashore for lunch. Then we walked to Whaletown Bay, about a mile and watched the BC Ferry unload. When we got back we loaded the dinghy back onto the upper deck and drank the last two of our Alaskan Amber beer. Back on our boat, we entertained ourselves watching late in-coming sail boats try to find a spot to anchor in the now crowded harbor. We are still not used to all the boats. We hardly ever had to share an anchorage in Alaska or were concerned about swinging room. During the night the wind was gusting to 25 mph and we were thinking about our night in Shearwater. Fortunately, the wind died down about 10 and was calm enough to sleep through the night.

Wednesday, Aug 19

It is sunny and calm this morning and we are headed for Desolation Sound. We anchored in the same spot we did last year, a small one boat cove at Kakaekae Pt near Grace Harbor. We had to set our anchor and then run a stern line to shore because there is not enough room for the boat to swing. It is warm and sunny and we are out of beer! Around 10:00 we went outside in the darkness to gaze at the amazing stars.

Thursday, Aug 20

We turned south again, down Malaspina Strait, which is noted for winds and choppy water. For the first 2 hours it was great, but true to its nature, the wind came up and the water got choppy for the next 2 hours. Near Ballet Bay we saw an overturned dinghy and did another good deed and called Canadian Coast Guard to report it. We hung around until their fast response vessel came (about 15 minutes) then we anchored in Ballet Bay. We have been really impressed with the Canadian Coast Guard because they actually send help when a vessel is in distress or there is a dangerous situation. We have found that the U S Coast Guard requests other boaters to assist and they very rarely send a vessel. Also, the orange Canadian Coast Guard rescue boats don’t have machine guns mounted on the bow. There were several other boats in Ballet Bay and several more came in during the evening. It was definitely a full harbor and the wind blew most of the night causing boats to swing around. The last boat to enter was a sail boat “Hot Topic”. They had a difficult time getting their anchor to set and after 4 tries in the same spot they wandered around all the other boats looking for just the right spot. They were probably embarrassed, but it was quite entertaining for the rest of us.

Friday, Aug 21

We got up at 5:00 AM, planning to cross the Strait of Georgia this morning before the wind picked up. Unfortunately, the wind had other thoughts and was already blowing, and at 5:30 it was still dark. After some discussion we went back to bed for a couple of hours. We finally left Ballet Bay about 7:30 AM, it was windy and choppy…not a good day to cross the Strait of Georgia. So we went south for a couple of hours and anchored in Secret Cove. It is still a little windy and the skies are full of rain clouds, with occasional gusts in the harbor 20-30 mph but we’re in a good spot and well anchored. We have 200 feet of chain out, ready for the blow if it comes. If the wind dies down during the night, tomorrow morning we will cross the Strait to Nanaimo, if not we may just stay here another day. This is a really busy place, boats coming and going all day. We enjoy watching other boaters docking, anchoring and maneuvering in their boats.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mvpandora/2/1250906531/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mvpandora/2/1250906531/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mvpandora/2/1250906531/tpod.html Fri, 21 Aug 2009 22:08:00 -0400 North to Alaska

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Codville Lagoon Marine Park, British Columbia, Canada

Thursday, Aug 6

Things didn't work out so well in Prince Rupert. The fishing fleet was in and there was nowhere to dock, not even for a couple of hours to go shopping, and we couldn’t even get to the fuel dock because all the fishing boats were lined up waiting to get fuel. It was frustrating and totally messed with our plans to get fuel, water and provisions for the next leg of our journey. We finally gave up and left Prince Rupert. It gets worse…once we got out of the harbor it was fog, fog and more fog. We decided not to take the outside of Pitt Island route because fog was forecast for the next couple of days, plus it’s pretty isolated. We headed down Grenville Channel, which is a main north/south inside passage route and anchored for the night in Baker Inlet. The entrance is very narrow and the current was strong so it was a bit challenging. There would be no way to pass another boat. Fortunately, nobody else was there and it was pretty and secluded. We read in our guide book that there were wolves and bears there but we didn’t see or hear any.

Friday, Aug 7

We finished the trip down Grenville Channel, it was kind of choppy, but we were only going a short way to Lowe Inlet, our next anchorage. Unfortunately Lowe Inlet was extremely windy with poor anchoring opportunities. So we kept going down Grenville and anchored at the south end of Curlew Bay. The friction pad on our anchor windlass is falling apart and if it wasn’t replaced would cause the two metal plates to rub together. Fortunately, we are still able to still use it one more time and Tim was able to fix it by cutting a ring out of one of our white plastic cutting boards. It works as good as new now.

Saturday, Aug 8

Long day today…we left our anchorage at 7:00 AM. There was a light rain, high fog, and it got windier as the day went on. We decided to be daring and not take the inside passage route for a while. As it got windier we decided to tuck into a small inlet and anchor for the night. It was not to be…we just couldn’t find a spot that we felt comfortable dropping the anchor. It was mostly over 90 feet right up to the sheer rock side. So we trudged onward. We saw some humpbacks and Dall’s porpoise which is always fun but saw few other boats. We cut back inside at Meyers Passage and anchored in Bottleneck Inlet. It was another pretty, protected and secluded spot. There were eventually two other boats anchored there but there was plenty of room.

Sunday, Aug 9

We reluctantly left Bottleneck Inlet and even debated staying another day just because we liked it and weren’t looking forward to going out in the weather again. Since we didn’t get water at Prince Rupert we decided to go to Shearwater and spend the night at the dock. Unfortunately, we had no way to contact them ahead of time and they were full when we got there. They said they would have a spot for tomorrow so we decided to anchor out in Kliktsoatli (don’t ask me how to pronounce it) Harbor. We have been seeing lots of salmon jumping just about everywhere we have been the last few days. We started counting jumps and the record today is 6 jumps by one salmon. We are easily entertained.

Monday, Aug 10

Around 2:00 AM, Jill was awakened by wind and water noise outside. We sat in the pilot house and watched as wind gusts as high as 50 mph pummeled our boat. We were concerned that we might drag our anchor so we decided that even though we were already at 4 to 1 chain to depth we would let out more chain. Tim put on his life vest and hooked himself to the bow rail with a big carabineer while he let out more anchor chain in the 40 mph wind. We ended up with 300 ft of our 3/8 inch in the water, more than we have ever used before. We have a very dependable anchor, but letting out more chain put more weight in the water and helped to keep our anchor holding. We sat up until the gale winds died down about 4:00 AM. We got a couple of hours of sleep then waited for the harbormaster to call us so we could go to the dock. We got fuel (it’s even more expensive in Canada than it is in the US) and tied to the dock. We were told that Shearwater, which is very near to Bella Bella has good filtered water. The harbormaster told us if you "don’t boil the dock water before you drink it you can get Beaver Fever". We’re not sure what Beaver Fever is but it can’t be good. We really needed to fill up our water tanks but didn’t want to do it with bad water. Fortunately, we are not out yet and even have a couple of gallons of bottles water on board. We spent the day getting some provisions at their not very well stocked but very expensive store and doing laundry. We slept well knowing we were at the dock if the winds came up again. We did hear that the wind had been over 30 mph in the marina last night so we added some extra dock lines.

Tuesday, Aug 11

We had a short trip today from Shearwater to Codville Lagoon. Codville Lagoon has an interesting history as do many of the places we have anchored. Old canneries from the days of the salmon gold rush are very common. After breakfast, we put the dinghy in and went for a spin around the island and dropped our shrimp pot in near the entrance. Tim fished for a while but didn’t even get a bite. By the time we went to bed there were 6 boats in the anchorage, including a beautiful blue hull sailboat “Grace” that we had seen in Auke Bay, Alaska.

Wednesday, Aug 12

6:15 AM On or way out of Codville Lagoon we picked up our shrimp pot and had 11 shrimp. Yummy! Just enough for dinner tonight. We made the decision to skip Fury Cove and go for the long haul down Fitzhugh Sound, Queen Charlotte Sound and Queen Charlotte Strait. Waters were calm in Fisher and Fitzhugh and we saw several small pods of humpbacks along the shoreline. We haven’t seen as many whales since we left Alaska, but today we saw a bunch. When we got out into Q.C. Sound it was foggy. Even though we have radar to guide us and let us know when other boats are near, it is as stressful as driving a car in the fog except there’s no center line and 100 ton fishing boats are hurrying about . There was a distress call from a boat that was about a mile west of our location. Then a request on VHF 16 from the Canadian Coast Guard to help a boater in distress. Even though we were nearing Cape Caution, the nasty part of the Queen Charlotte crossing, we decided we should be good boaters and assist if we could. It was a little difficult to find “Turnagain” because of the fog but we were finally able to find them based on the GPS coordinates they provided. They had sheared the bolts on their shaft (same thing that happened to us in Alaska) but they were unable to steer because their prop shaft had slipped back and jammed the rudder. They had no steerage so were dead in the water, and drifting in the pea soup fog, Queen Charlotte swells and the wind towards the rocks about a mile off Egg Island. Tim explained to them how he had fixed our shaft in the same situation. One of the guys got in their dinghy and came to our boat. Tim gave them some bolts and a couple of “C” clamps. We hung out in the fog dodging fishing vessels and swells while they tried Tim’s fix-it method. They were unable to make it work and dropped one of the “C” clamps in the water getting into the dinghy. They brought back the other clamp and $20CAN so we could buy another clamp. While all this was going on both of us were in contact with Canadian Coast Guard. They were sending a rescue vessel but it would take another 30 minutes. We also got a call from John on “Bunk House”, a boat we saw in Prince Rupert and then talked with in Shearwater. They offered assistance if we needed it. We stayed with “Turnagain” in case they needed assistance while waiting for the CCG. This whole episode took about 2 hours so it was 7:30PM before we finally got to our anchorage for the night. When we got to Blunden Harbor, there were 10 other boats already anchored, including “Bunk House”, so we didn’t have a lot of room to anchor. We were exhausted and hungry and it took two tries to get the anchor set. John called on the radio to see if we wanted to come to “Bunk House” for a drink but we were just too tired. But, we felt good about helping another boater. Good boater Karma.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mvpandora/2/1249579016/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mvpandora/2/1249579016/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mvpandora/2/1249579016/tpod.html Thu, 06 Aug 2009 13:19:36 -0400 North to Alaska

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Prince Rupert, British Columbia, Canada

Sunday, Aug 2

We left Ketchikan at 7:00 AM. The winds are still blowing and we don't want to try the crossing to Prince Rupert yet, but we are ready to leave the dock in Ketchikan. We were told the fuel dock north of town had a card reader and you could get fuel with your credit card 24/7. Well, that is sort of true. You can get fuel, but only one pump is available and you can only get $75 worth of fuel and then have to swipe your card again. We did that, then our credit card would only authorize two swipes so we had to switch to another card. After 3 different credit cards with 2 swipes each we gave up when the card reader kept giving the message "read error". It was frustrating, but also kind of funny. We did manage to get 238 gallons of fuel. The price was pretty good at $2.25 per gallon. Behm Canal goes all the way around Revillagigedo Island (we have no idea how to pronounce this so we call it Ketchikan Island). It is really pretty and the south portion includes the Misty Fiords. We went to Marguerite Bay from Ketchikan because we heard there is a bear observatory and a dock. We got there about noon and the dock was small and full so we went across the bay and anchored for lunch, hoping somebody would leave the dock. We watched seaplanes with cruise ship tourists from Ketchikan come and go for a couple of hours. After lunch we decided to move on and find a better anchorage for the night. We anchored in Klu Bay. It was pretty and protected and there was only one other boat. We anchored in 68 feet. Tim dropped the crab pot in off the boat and quickly got four nice dungeness crabs. While unloading the pot one of the crabs clamped on to Tim’s finger and wouldn’t let go. Ouch! We showed the crab who was boss and had him for dinner.

Monday, Aug 3

We left Klu Bay heading for Fitzgibbon Cove. It was sunny and warm, the scenery was beautiful and the water calm. We were missing all the wildlife we have seen the last few weeks until we saw a white mountain goat standing on a rock right on the edge of the water. From a distance he looked like a big white dog. When we got closer he looked like he was wondering what he was doing by the water and how to get back to his mountain. We anchored in Fitzgibbon Cove and had lunch. It was a great spot, but we decided to move on closer to the main attraction in Misty Fiords. There was a big fire somewhere and as we traveled south we saw more and more smoke in the air. We anchored in Manzanita Bay which seemed kind of open but according to our guide book, was “protected from all weather”.

Tuesday, Aug 4

Manzanita Bay is open to chop! The boat rocked all night and water slapped the sides as it rolled into the bay from Behm Canal. Tim slept through it, Jill didn’t. We got up this morning to more smoke and some wind, crossed Behm Canal into Rudyard Bay then drifted around in Punchbowl Cove while we had breakfast. We read that Punchbowl is called the Grand Canyon of the Northwest. It was interesting, with 2 to 3 thousand foot vertical granite sides but didn’t even compare to the real Grand Canyon. Plus the smoke didn’t help the view. As we left Rudyard Bay there were two orcas heading out of the bay with us. Our plan was to anchor in Alava Bay at the south end of Behm Canal and head to Foggy Bay on Wednesday. As we headed toward our destination the winds calmed and the current was speeding us along. Since it was only noon we decided to skip Alava Bay and go to Foggy Bay, beginning our journey back to Canada. The entrance to the back side of Foggy Bay is a bit tricky but worth the effort to get to a big protected bay. For a while we were the only boat anchored in Foggy Bay. Early in the evening a sailboat came in and despite all the room to anchor they anchored so close to us that as Pandora started to swing toward them we had to tell them they were too close and please move farther away. They were speaking German (we think) to each other, but sort of acknowledged us and pulled up their anchor and moved maybe a hundred yards away. It was a calm and peaceful night.

Wednesday, Aug 5

Yesterday we heard on the VHF weather report that the winds were going to pick up in Dixon Entrance today, so we got up at 4:30 AM and headed to Prince Rupert. The Dixon Entrance crossing was a piece of cake, except for dodging fishing boats. There were seiners, gill netters, and trollers everywhere. Fortunately, they stay near shore so we were able to go around them without going too far out. It was a little tricky trying to figure out where their nets were, the little white net floats were hard to see in the smoky morning light. Fortunately, the fishing boats were pretty good about seeing us coming and racing out to sit at the outside edge of their nets. Once we entered Chatham Sound the winds picked up quickly. The out flow wind from Portland Canal got up to 35 mph as we were crossing and it became a rough ride. It became an increasingly bigger beam sea and with out stabilizers we were rolling. We decided to head into the wind and waves across the Sound where we so we could get into Pearl Harbor if we needed to. We saw two humpback whales blow in the rough sea and wind a couple of hundred yards almost directly ahead of us. Under normal circumstances we would alter our course around them. Then they surfaced about 100 feet off our port side. They looked like they were having a rough ride too when they came to the surface to breathe. It’s always tense wondering where the whales will come up when they surprise us and surface that close. It was a relief when we were sure we were by them. Once we got across the sound and away from the entrance to Portland Canal, the winds died down to almost nothing. We forged ahead down the coast and took the short cut through Duncan Bay and Venn Passage to Prince Rupert. It was a really pretty passage, forested and calm, we were glad we took that route. We called Canadian customs from one of the customs docks and they made us wait while they came down to the boat. While we were waiting, Jill called the two moorages to find a spot for the night. The yacht club was full and the public dock person said “if you can find a spot you can have it”. The customs officers looked around the boat some and asked us about the “seizure” last year when they took our undeclared wine in Victoria. This time, they seemed more interested in looking in drawers to see if we had handguns. The funny thing is they were surprised we didn’t have a shotgun and encouraged us to get one. Go figure that. After we were cleared we went across the harbor and anchored. It was 4:00 and we hadn’t had any lunch. After bacon and eggs we did a little research and found a couple of other spots that provided a better anchorage so we pulled up the anchor and went to check them out. We anchored in Russell Arm with a sail boat. We did get a little bit of chop from passing boats in the harbor, but it wasn’t bad.

Thursday, Aug 6

It’s very foggy this morning! Visibility is about 100 yards. We can barely see the sailboat anchored near us. We spent the morning planning and researching for the next few days. Entering anchor spots and adding notes on important places to see or avoid on our navigation computer makes navigating a lot easier. We use Coastal Explorer software and really like it. We’re going to go a different way going South than when we came, and cruise down the outside of Pitt Island and Princess Royal Island. If the weather gets nasty on the outside there are several places where we can cut back into Grenville Channel or farther South, Princess Royal Channel to more protected waters. We hope to get fuel and groceries before we go but we’re not sure we want to venture out in the fog. Even with radar there’s a lot of traffic and we’re not familiar with the harbor.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mvpandora/2/1249089698/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mvpandora/2/1249089698/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mvpandora/2/1249089698/tpod.html Fri, 31 Jul 2009 21:25:22 -0400 North to Alaska

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Wrangell, Alaska, United States

Tuesday, July 28

Today, around 1:00, we left from Wrangell on a jet boat for the Anan Bear Observatory. For several reasons we didn't take our own boat. There is almost no where to anchor near the observatory and if you do anchor it is recommended that someone stay aboard the boat. We took a vote and it was a tie, neither of us wanted to stay aboard. Besides, a knowledgeable guide with pepper spray and a gun is comforting on the walk-in due to all the bears. Our guides were Jim and Ivan. Ivan is a very interesting character who, along with his wife, emigrated from Russia to Wrangell forty or so years ago. He is also quite well known as a local wildlife photographer and was very helpful with bear photography tips. Jim, our other guide and the owner of the tour company knew an amazing amount of information about bears. He had actually been raised with bears. His father was a wildlife officer and would occasionally bring home orphaned bear cubs that the family would raise. Jim explained how bears communicated using body language and how bears usually didn't get along very well with each other. It was about ½ mile walk through the rain forest from the beach landing to the observatory. The observatory is a 20 X 50 deck with a railing, gate and small open building built overlooking a low water fall on Anan creek. There is an outhouse a short distance from the observatory, but located where several well used bear trials intersect. If you have to use it, the guide has to escort you, while he watches, from the safety of the deck enclosure, for wandering bears. When you are done you wiggle your fingers out the peep hole in the door to signal the guide that you are ready. He then comes out and escorts you back to the observatory. We heard stories of people including one ranger getting stuck in the outhouse for a while because a bear decided to lay in front of the door. Every year thousands of salmon bunch up in the white water below the waterfall on their way up stream to spawn. Jim told us that about 70 bears come to this spot to feast on salmon. There are so many salmon, that black bears double their body weight in just a few months and the larger brown bears gain hundreds of pounds. Where the bears are feeding is only about 50 feet below the main deck. There were usually 4 to 6 black bears and 1 or 2 brown bears within sight. The black bears kept to their side of the creek and always kept a wary eye on the brown bears. If a brown bear comes close to the black bears the black bears run off or hustle up a tree. One young black bear went up a tree right next to the deck then proceeded to pee while he was standing on a branch, which got bear pee all over the deck railing. Below the deck there was a lower blind that could be entered by a camo net covered stairway from the main deck. The blind was about 10 feet over the water and about 30 feet from the bears that were feeding across the creek. But only 10 feet above a brown bear on the blind side of the creek. We were mostly hidden from the bears, which we were told have poor eye sight. There were net windows from which we could photograph and we were told to be real quiet. It was amazing to be so close. No need for a long lens. We shot over 300 still pictures and over an hour of video.

Wednesday, July 29

From Wrangell we traveled down Zimovia Strait and Ernest Sound to Meyers Chuck. We hit the tides well and made good time on another beautiful clear day. We passed two dozen or so gill net boats in the Strait, eased by the end of one net and zig zagged through Zimovia Narrows. The tide was low when we reached the entrance to Meyers Chuck. The entrance between the rocky islands was narrow and intimidating, but fairly well marked which was nice because our electronic chart didn't show any detail. There were several boats at the public dock so we eased around and tied to the back, shallow side, with the help of some other boaters. We do really well at docking for the most part and sometimes "help" isn't very helpful, but all went well. Meyers Chuck is a community of about 15 or 20 homes and cabins, most are built on stilts. We watched a sea plane skim over the rocks and land in the small harbor. When he left his take off run was a big curve around a small island then out between the trees. Those pilots are either really good or a little crazy... perhaps a little of both. We had a nice night and prepared to head to Ketchikan tomorrow.

Thursday, July 30

Meyers Chuck to Ketchikan is less than 30 miles, but by way of Clarence Strait which is notorious for winds and choppy waters. We left early and were able to avoid the afternoon winds, although docking took two tries because we both underestimated the direction and force of the wind in the harbor. It is hot, over 90 degrees, and the locals are complaining. The forecast is for high winds and high seas for the next leg of our journey south. We are going to stay here for a couple of days and chart a course that has lots of anchorage options for getting out of the wind if necessary. Next major stop is Prince Rupert, British Columbia, Canada. Not sure when we will have internet again. We plan to spend most of August in northern Canada, the Broughtons and Desolation Sound.

]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mvpandora/2/1248809100/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mvpandora/2/1248809100/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mvpandora/2/1248809100/tpod.html Tue, 28 Jul 2009 15:43:28 -0400 North to Alaska

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Wrangell, Alaska, United States

Tuesday, July 21

We are heading south on Chatham Strait toward Baranof Hot Springs. The winds and seas are calmer today and we have 5 or 6 hours of travel. We left early from Cedar Cove so that we would arrive at Ell Cove around noon. It is a beautiful, intimate little cove, just big enough for a boat our size, it's shaped in an "L" with high granite sides so it is very protected from the weather. Entering this cove, like some others we’ve anchored in, is interesting because you can’t see the anchorage until you get all the way in where you can see around the corner. There are water falls and high granite mountains all around us. During the afternoon a 90 ft. tour boat with at least 20 guests and crew came in to our cove. We could hear them coming but couldn’t see them and they couldn’t see us until they got all the way in. They had to turn around in the cove and find another anchorage because there was no room for them and we could see that the people were disappointed. It was a very cool spot. Tim fished and caught some bottom fish, but the salmon that were jumping at the mouth just wouldn’t cooperate. Apparently they had spawning on their minds. We also saw a brown bear wandering the shore plus lots of eagles and gulls.


Wednesday, July 22

Continuing south this morning, it is windy (20 mph), foggy (1 mile visibility or less) and choppy seas. Fortunately we only had a 2 hour trip to Warm Springs Bay and Baranof Hot Springs. The public dock at Baranof was full of boats so we anchored in a cove around the corner. We actually prefer to anchor out when we can. We waited for the rain to stop, but finally gave up and put on our rain pants and jackets (with our swimming suits underneath), launched the dinghy and headed for the dinghy dock. We were really glad we put on our rain gear, we would have been soaked. John and Suzy on “Susan Marie” were coming around the corner as we left in our dinghy. They anchored in our cove. It’s amazing how we can run into other boats several times while we’re cruising. The buildings at Baranof Hot Springs are built on stilts around the sides of the harbor. Everything is connected by nice wooden boardwalks and there’s even a boardwalk that leads up towards the natural rock hot springs. The rain had let up so we headed up the long board walk and on to the trail that goes to Baranof Lake. The side trail to the rock hot spring pools was marked only with a small carving of a fish that hung on a tree. The trail was muddy and crisscrossed with roots. We wished we had sprung for Extra-Tuffs. “Extra-Tuffs” also know as Alaskan sneakers are the foot wear of choice for locals. They are brown rubber boots about 16 inches high that everyone, from fishermen to girls on the street, wear with Levis to shorts. They can be folded down and come in a faux-fur or plain. We’ve seen other boaters with them and thought they might be handy for rainy weather. So rubber boots might be what, $29.95? Not, on sale they’re $74.95. Maybe for Christmas Santa will bring us some. We trudged on to the natural outdoor pools, which were well worth the effort. Located right beside the roaring water fall that dumps into the harbor, the rock pools are hot and hotter. We had the place to ourselves so we stripped down to our suits and eased into the steaming water. We enjoyed an hour soaking in the two hot pools and enjoying the amazing waterfall. It was wonderful and we felt like cooked noodles when we got out.


Thursday, July 23

We left Warm Springs Bay and traveled in the rain for about 3 hours to Red Bluff Bay. It’s always amazing how choppy and windy the straits can be and how peaceful the coves are. This turned out to be one of our favorite places in Alaska. There really is a high red bluff at the entrance, thus the name. The rock sides of the bay went up so high, well over 1000 feet, that they disappeared into the mist. The best anchorage was at the head of the bay, about a mile in, and as we motored through the still water, we saw dozens of salmon jumping and milling about near the mouths of several streams. There was a beautiful huge waterfall and many smaller ones falling down the mountain sides. They originated from snow pack somewhere high in the misty clouds. We anchored in a small cove off of the meadow at the end of the bay. Once again we lucked out and had it all to ourselves. Tim tried fishing from the boat but gave up when he noticed schools of salmon ignoring his lure. It was high tide, so we launched our kayaks and paddled over towards the meadow. One the way we came within 20 feet of resting sea birds and a couple of harbor seals on a rock. It was amazing that they weren’t scared at all. They just looked a little bothered that we were interrupting their break time. The meadow grass, which was about 2 feet long, was now under water. We glided right over and were able to look down at the sea life in the crystal clear water. At several points there were lots of bubbles coming up through the grass. One spot was as if somebody had left an air hose on under the water. Was it natural gas perhaps? We paddled up the stream that entered from the end of the bay and could see salmon spawning in the gravel bottom. It might have been a good place to see bears but apparently they like it better at low tide. We kayaked to the bottom of the falls and were amazed at the power of the water and the wind it created. It pushed us toward Pandora. When we were back on the boat and the tide went out we saw a lone brown bear. After he wandered off down the stream, towards the lake, we saw a mother bear and her cub in the meadow. Throughout the evening we watched the mist come and go in the bay, like a ribbon of lace floating in the air. It would build up at the head of the bay and then drift up and way in the mountains. It made of think of the mist at Hogwarts in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone so we watched the movie while we had dinner.

Friday, July 24

We saw another bear on the beach this morning and watched it for a while before we pulled up the anchor and headed out of Red Bluff Bay. Today we crossed Chatham Strait and much to our surprise the winds and waters were very calm. We were expecting a couple of hours of rough seas, so we were pleasantly surprised. As we neared the area where Chatham Strait and Frederick Sound come together we saw whales all around us. We were pretty far away from most of them, but every direction we looked we saw spouts and tails and fins of one or more whales. We also saw a bear on the beach in Frederick Sound and some Dall’s porpoise came to play in our bow wake. We never get tired of seeing them, they just make us laugh. Our laughter was short lived when we were suddenly fogged in with only a few hundred yards of visibility. We could look up and see the mountain tops but it was thick fog on the water. Using radar we slowly made our way to Thomas Bay and anchored off Ruth Island. We had anchored in this same spot about a month ago when we were heading north. It is a quiet, protected cove and we listened to a loon call as we anchored.


Saturday, July 25

We saw a green American Tug across the bay this morning and called on the radio to see if it was Jerry and Kathy on “Jade Princess”. We met them last year in Desolation Sound and boated with them for a couple of days. It was them and we talked about some of the places we and they had been this summer and where we were headed. We left Ruth Island around 11 AM and hit thick fog as soon as we rounded the point into Thomas Bay. Using radar we made our way through fishing boats, cruising boats and ice bergs across Frederick Sound and towards Petersburg. As soon as we hit the entrance to Petersberg the fog lifted and we had sunshine and warm temps the rest of the day. We went through Wrangell Narrows with no problems and anchored in St. John Harbor.

Sunday, July 26

We had a 3 hour trip into Wrangell this morning. We could see fog behind us but it never reached Wrangell and the waters were calm. We tied to the dock in Wrangell and walked to town for lunch. We decided to book a jet boat tour to the Anan Bay Bear Observatory for Tuesday. We had lunch in town and spent the afternoon relaxing in the sun.


Monday, July 27

Today was laundry and grocery shopping. John and Suzy on “Susan Marie” tied up behind us this morning. We enjoyed visiting and comparing stories about places we have been. Tomorrow afternoon we go to the Anan Bay Bear Observatory and we will leave Wrangell and head for Ketchikan on Wednesday.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mvpandora/2/1248750579/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mvpandora/2/1248750579/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mvpandora/2/1248750579/tpod.html Mon, 27 Jul 2009 23:49:30 -0400 North to Alaska

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Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve, Alaska, United States

Wednesday, July 15

Got up at 6AM to get to the fuel dock and out of Auke Bay. Fueling went fine, but the fuel dock was having an issue with their credit card machine. We hung around for about an hour, waiting. They finally wrote down our credit card info and gave us a receipt and we were on our way. About half an hour out of Auke Bay Tim went to the engine room to check on Pearl's transmission. It was leaking fluid! He called Ben (mechanic) and described where it was leaking and Ben had no clue why it would leak in that spot. So, we turned around and went back to Auke Bay where Ben met us at the dock. The leak was due to a cut in the gasket, which apparently happened when Ben put the transmission back together. He replaced the gasket (no charge, since it was his fault) and we headed out again. Tim checked for leaks every 30 minutes and everything was fine. We decided to head for Swanson harbor and tied to one of the handy public floats. We’re now at 58 12. 789N 135 06. 617 W. Swanson Harbor is a beautiful, protected, small bay where Lynn Canal, Chatham Strait and Icy Strait all come together, it’s also about 5 hours from Glacier Bay, our next stop. We sat on the upper deck and had popcorn and an eagle show for dinner. Apparently the local eagles have learned that when boats tie up at the floating dock in the evening there’s a good chance they can get fish scraps for dinner. Indeed, two eagles sat in the grass or on a rock waiting for their opportunity. We watched as one of the eagles swooped down and snatched fish scraps off the dock rail (Bull rail) that had been placed there by some newly arrived fishing guys on the other dock. This is a really nice harbor. There are places to anchor in addition to the two free public floats. When we went to bed the floats were almost full with six boats and there was a fishing boat and a big sail boat named Zig Zag, anchored.

Thursday, July 16

We have decided to stay here another night because our permit for Glacier Bay is effective on Friday, for 3 days. They said we can’t come any earlier or they’d have to kill us. There are only two other boats at the docks now and the anchored boats have left. It is a nice day, cloud and calm, no rain. We did a lot of relaxing and fishing. Tim caught a salmon. By evening the docks were full again.

Friday, July 17

We got up early this morning and left Swanson Harbor before 5 AM. The wind and sea were calm and we had a comfortable ride to Glacier Bay. On the way we saw a few whales, and for the first time we saw sea otters. They were so cute…floating on their backs, paddling with their back feet. We were "required" to check in at the visitor center in Bartlett Cove for a mandatory boater orientation before we could go into Glacier Bay. They have some very detailed whale areas near the entrance to Glacier Bay. We were early for the orientation so we walked on the nature trail. After our 20 minute orientation (there are lots of rules to follow) we went to the Glacier Bay Lodge for lunch. We waved to John and Susan on the sailboat “Susan Marie” as we left Bartlett Cove. We have crossed their path several times this summer. We anchored for the night in Fingers Bay and talked about where we want to go tomorrow. We watched a sea otter paddle around the cove. They just make you smile, they are so cute!

Saturday, July 18

We left Fingers Bay around 7:30 AM and rode right into thick fog on the rest of Glacier Bay. It was slow going, with radar, for about four hours before the fog lifted. We were on the 2nd day of our 3 day pass for Glacier Bay and were concerned we wouldn’t get to see everything because of the fog. We called Bartlett Cove on VHF and asked to extend our permit by a couple of days. By noon, we arrived at the first huge glacier which is in Reid Inlet. It was dead calm so entered the inlet and stopped in front of the glacier for a 45 minute lunch. After lunch we headed towards John Hopkins Glacier. There were quite a lot of medium sized ice bergs in the water and a lot of smaller bergie bits that we had to zig zag through. When we rounded the corner to the John Hopkins inlet, we were surprised by how close we were to Lamplugh Glacier. It appeared to have recently lost a large section into the water and was the source of most of the ice in the water. We were so close that if the ice face had fallen it could have been a bit dangerous. There was a Princess cruise ship that towered above us but it couldn’t get as close as we did. We got some great up close pictures of the face of the glacier. From Lamplugh we picked our way through the ice in John Hopkins Inlet towards the big glacierat the end. We were able to get what seemed to be fairly close to the glacier before the ice choked water stopped us. Everything is so huge it’s really had to tell how far away or high the mountains and glaciers really are. The sun was peaking out so we spent at about an hour, just drifting in the ice, taking pictures, being in awe of nature and glaciers. Then we headed south back through the floating ice to Shag Cove, Geikie Inlet we anchored in 80 ft. using 300 ft of our 400 ft. chain, we usually do 4 to1 scope for safety. Most of the anchorages in Alaska are deep, which is a good thing considering the 20 ft. tides.

We left Shag cove around 9:00 and wandered through some small islands checking out the birds and seals. There are limits on how close we could get because the USFS didn’t want us to disturb the seals. The seals were doing a good job of disturbing themselves. Two huge males were crashing around in the seal group trying to establish who gets the girls. We slowed and were deciding where to go next. We saw a humpback several hundred yards in front of us which wasn’t unusual because there are lots of whales in Glacier Bay. Then off to Starboard about a mile away we saw two whales coming towards us. Every 30 seconds or so one of them would jump all the way out of the water. They were coming towards us so we stopped our engines and drifted in the calm water to watch the show. As they passed we were so close that when they surfaced and blew it sounded like a lions roar, the sound was really loud and wild, it sent a chill down our backs. Sometimes one of them would jump totally clearing the water and do a complete barrel roll. Their fin, like a giant white arm, would slap against the water as they re-entered. It sounded like a tremendous rifle shot and the splash was huge. At one point they stopped moving and one of them would smack his fin back and forth against the surface making loud slapping noises. It was quite a show. After the whale show we anchored in North Sandy cove. A large Brown bear was wandering down the beach until a noisy little boat came into the cove and the bear moved back into the trees.

Monday, July 20

We left Glacier Bay in the morning and headed out into Icy Strait. The wind was blowing and the water was rough. It wasn’t a fun ride. We stopped about noon in Flynn Cove and had lunch, showered and waited for the winds to die down, as forecast. We took off again, but as soon as we rounded the point into Chatham Strait it got rough again. There was nowhere to go to get out of the wind at this point, so we kept heading south. We finally ducked into Pavlof Harbor to find there were already four boats anchored there. We went farther into Freshwater Bay and anchored in Cedar Cove, happy to be out of the weather and safely anchored.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mvpandora/2/1247632127/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mvpandora/2/1247632127/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mvpandora/2/1247632127/tpod.html Wed, 15 Jul 2009 00:56:49 -0400 North to Alaska

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Auke Bay, Alaska, United States

We've been stuck in Auke Bay for a week now. It’s been Ok because we’ve been able to catch up on a lot of things like laundry, changing the engine oil and cleaning the outside of the boat, but now we are so ready to move on. We’ve taken the bus to Juneau so many times we are now advising other cruisers about which bus to catch and where it goes. The bus drivers are all very helpful too. There are all manner of boats in the harbor…small, personal fishing boats, mega yachts, sail boats, power boats, fishing charter boats, whale watching boats and everything in between. Yesterday most of the commercial fishing boats left and there was a lot of empty dock space, but by mid afternoon the place was close to full again. This happens almost every day, no matter how many boats leave, more come in. It is fun to watch different docking techniques, or lack of technique, especially on cruising boats like ours. Watching a boat wander around the harbor makes you wonder what their thought process is for picking a spot. There can be a nice roomy spot open and they will choose to go into a spot that is barely big enough for their boat. The big commercial fishing boats are old pros and seem to whip into any spot with ease.

Yesterday we went to the Mendenhall Glacier. It’s about 12 miles from downtown Juneau. We were able to take the city bus to within a couple of miles and walk the rest of the way. It was beautiful.

As I write, Tim and Ben (our transmission mechanic) are in the engine room installing Pearl’s rebuilt transmission. I’m filling the water tanks and just went to the harbormaster’s office to pay for our time here…thinking positive that we will be able to leave early in the morning. Our next destination is Glacier Bay, though we still haven’t been able to get a permit. We’re not sure when we will have internet again, and also are not sure where we will be going from Glacier Bay.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mvpandora/2/1247615595/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mvpandora/2/1247615595/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mvpandora/2/1247615595/tpod.html Tue, 14 Jul 2009 20:35:05 -0400 North to Alaska

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Auke Bay, Alaska, United States

These are pictures of some of our "neighbors" in Auke Bay. Be sure to read the comments by clicking on the picture title.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mvpandora/2/1247014287/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mvpandora/2/1247014287/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mvpandora/2/1247014287/tpod.html Tue, 07 Jul 2009 21:11:20 -0400 North to Alaska

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Auke Bay, Alaska, United States

Sunday, July 5

It was a beautiful, sunny morning, the winds and seas were calm. We left Auke Bay headed for the small village of Hoonah, about 5 hours away. Our new friends on Moonraker and Windfall were about ½ hour behind us, also heading for Hoonah. A couple of hours into our travels we noticed several whale watching boats and small fishing boats drifting near the shore. The water was really calm and we could see a bunch of whale spouts in a group. Of course, we went towards them. With our engines idling, we spent about an hour watching a group of maybe 20 humpback whales feeding together. It was an amazing thing to watch…they would surface, "blow out a breath with a loud whoosh", and all dive below the surface. Then we would all wait for maybe 2 or 3 minutes and then you could see a circle of bubbles on the surface and then all of the whales would come up still in a circle, breaching heads first with their gigantic mouths open, catching the fish they had forced to the surface. It was spectacular and we watched them do it 4 times. Another once in a lifetime event. The pod moved on following the shoreline apparently done feeding for awhile. Our friends caught up to us by then and they followed the humpbacks for a while. As we were getting underway we saw three killer whales in front of us, one of them jumping totally out of the water. We were so surprised! We watched the killer whales feeding on salmon for a while, surfacing, turning, diving and surfacing again. They were really close to us and even closer to a couple of the small fishing boats. It was another spectacular show. It was a good whale day for us.

About two hours from our destination we heard a loud thunk in our engine room. Tim went down to check out the girls (Pearl-port engine and Stella-starboard engine). The bolts on the coupling to the propeller shaft on Stella had sheared off and the shaft had moved back about a foot. We had to shut her down and get to our anchorage on one engine. We called Moonraker, our new friend, on the VHF and they slowed down and lead us into the anchorage. In the meantime Tim checked his stock of nuts and bolts and did not have the correct size. After telling Bob on Moonraker what the situation was he checked his stock and had the exact bolts and nuts that we needed to repair the coupling. Once we got anchored, we went down to the engine room and started the slow process of getting the shaft back where it belonged. We discovered that the motor mounts were loose and the engine and shaft coupling were no longer aligned properly which is why the bolts sheared. Tim adjusted the motor mounts and aligned it with the shaft coupling and bolted it all back together. So, with Stella now repaired and ready to go we turned to Pearl and saw most of her transmission fluid had leaked out into the pan. We looked at each other both thinking “now what?” It appears that the seal in the bell housing of the transmission has failed. So, Pearl needs a makeover (transmission repair or rebuild).

Monday, July 6

Because transmission work is specialized, we decided the best thing to do would be to go back to Auke Bay and hire someone to fix Pearl's transmission. We left our anchorage about 8 AM and crossed our fingers that Stella would get us back on her own. We fought currents and 30 MPH winds and 10 hours later made it back into Auke Bay, tired, but happy to be tied to the dock where we were safe and could get some transmission help. Stella came through and we had no problem with the shaft coupling or anything else. The weather here is still beautiful and almost hot, especially for Alaska. We’re sitting on our upper deck wearing shorts sipping a much deserved cocktail and enjoying the view of at the rugged snow capped mountains and the Mendenhall glacier.

Tuesday, July 7

We finally got someone out here to at least look at Pearl's transmission. He said he has the parts but won't be able to come back to work on it until next Tuesday.

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